1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hinge assembly, and more particularly to a hinge assembly capable of retaining a cable and being easily assembled.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional hinge connects two members that are rotatable relative to each other, and the cables connecting or passing through the two members are usually directly disposed between the two members. Such a disposition deforms the appearance, and the exposed cables tend to be peeled off and cause the short-circuit phenomenon. Furthermore, when the two members are rotated relative to each other, the cables tend to be tom. In addition, managing the cables spends a lot of time, and elements for binding the cables also have to be used.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,572,769 discloses a tunable hinge assembly capable of retaining cables, wherein a clamping part and a screw are provided to fix the hollow hub. However, in this hinge structure, two openings of the clamping part have to be aligned with each other, and then the clamping part and the hub are fixed using a screw and a nut. This assembling method is too complicated and cannot meet the requirement of mass production.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,156 discloses a hinge assembly capable of retaining cables. The hinge assembly has a helical spring disposed in the hollow shaft, and the cable passes through the helical spring. This kind of hinge assembly has a drawback that the cables have to pass through the helical spring directly in the axial direction. When a cable has two large connectors at both ends, the assembler has to cut the cable so that the cable can pass through the helical spring. Alternatively, the assembler has to penetrate the cable through the helical spring and then connects the connector to the cable. Thus, the number of parts of the hinge assembly in the '156 patent is great, and the hinge assembly cannot be easily assembled.
Therefore, it is an important object of the invention to provide a hinge assembly capable of retaining a cable and being easily assembled.